Machine for displaying carpets and the like.



T. C. DE LISLE & W. T. PHILLIPS.

MACHINE FOB. DISPLAYING GAKPETS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 1910.

1,008,245. Patented N 7, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

Tomazsa Fe .66 a

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH $0.,WA5HIM1TON, n. c.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 1910.

Patented N0v.7, 1911.

2 8HEETSSHEET 2.

HHH Ill VIII/I COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASH1NUTON, D. c

UNTE STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

THOMAS C. DE LISLE AND WILLIAM T. PHILLIPS, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING CARPETS AND THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS C. DE LISLE and IVILLIAM T. PHILLIPS, both citizens of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Displaying Carpets and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has especial reference to improvements in the action and structure of our original invention as shown and de scribed in an application filed by us on the 18th day of April, 1910, and bearing Serial No. 556,081, and it relates especially to va rious structural changes with a view to producing a simple machine which is infallible in its action.

The general structure is still retained as described in the above mentioned application, including a plurality of pivoted frames adapted to be swung one after the other between horizontal and vertical positions, and an oscillating arm mechanism adapted to engage with successive frames to move them from one position to the other. The broad difference between the present machine and the former one is included with the structure of the oscillating arm mechanism, the object of the present invention being to simplify and generally improve the oscillating arm mechanism to render it sure and easy in its action.

\Vith this and other minor objects in view we have embodied our invention in the preferred form of mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings where the mechani cal structure is shown. This mechanical structure embodies a plurality'of frames pivoted on a horizontal shaft and adapted to move from a vertical position to a posltion restlng horizontally on the floor or base of the machine. On opposite edges of each frame is mounted a pin through which the movement of the oscillating arm mechanism is imparted to the frame. The oscillating arms are two in number and are mounted one on each side of the frames where the catch mechanisms on their outer ends are adapted to engage with the pins on. A simple mechanism is em-' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 14, 1910.

Patented Nov. 7, 1911. Serial No. 592,283.

fast by engagement with the pins on the frames. The catch mechanisms on the ends of the arms are arranged to be reversible so that they can be turned to engage with the pins to move them in either direction. The mechanisms are controlled by a simple lever on the base of the machine, so that, by moving this lever, the direction of movement of the frames may be reversed at will.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown the preferred form of our device without limiting ourselves to the numerous mechanical details illustrated but only to the subject matter set forth in the following specification as essential to the device and to the elements and combinations covered by the claims.

In these drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved device with its inclosing case in section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device. Fig. 3 is a detail plan of a corner of one of the display frames, showing the general constructions of the frames and showing the means for attaching the carpets thereto. Fig. 4 is a section taken on line of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section taken partly on line 55 and partly on line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 77 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8

is a fragmentary section taken on line 88 of Fig. 2. Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 99 of Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a section taken on line 1010 of Fig. 1 and illustrating the relation between the pins on the frames and the catch mechanism on the end of the oscillating arms. Fig. 11 is a section taken on line 1111 of Fig. 8. Fig. 12 is a section taken on line 12-12 of Fig. 1, Figs. 11 and 12 illustrating the mechanism for reversing the operation of the catches.

In the drawings 20 designates a suitable base and 21 a suitable housing for our improved mechanism, it being designed to coverthe portions of the machine with the exception of the actual display parts. From an inspection of the drawings it will be seen that the display frames 22 are adapted to move from a vertical to a horizontal position, resting on base 20 in the horizontal position. On account of necessary compression in Fig. 2, it may appear that the pile of carpets and frames is of considerable height when in the horizontal position, but this is not true of the actual device, the

composite pile being only higher than the equivalent pile of carpets by the mere thicknesses of the metal used in the frames. For a pile of seventy two carpets the carpets themselves would ordinarily occupy about twenty-four inches in height, and the frames will only add about one-sixteenth inch to the thickness of each carpet, making the pile about twenty-eight inches high in all.

Mounted on base 20 is a shaft 25 upon which are loosely mounted arms 26 which support frames 22, the frames being supported so as to rest against one another as illustrated. Shaft 25 is mounted in bearings27 and on each end carries a loose gear wheel 28 having a friction drum 29 integral therewith. An adjustable friction band 30 surrounds drum 29 and is adapted to normally be moved therewith. Rigidly affixed to bands 30 are hollow arms 31 which project outwardly from shaft 25. These arms each carry a tiltable shaft 32 on their ends and a rod 33 projects up through each arm and has a connection 34 with the shaft so that the longitudinal movement of the rod will cause the shaft to be tilted from one position to another, the position of corresponding lines on the shaft being indicated by the dotted center lines in Fig. 9 for its oppositely tilted positions. Each of shafts 32 carries a small frame 35 provided with guides 36 on which catch 37 slides, spring 38 keeping the catch up to the limit of its travel but allowing its movement downwardly when the curved upper surface 39 of the catch comes into contact with any of lugs or pins 40 011 frames 22. Pins 40 are arranged on a common radius from shaft 25 so that the catch in its oscillatory movement with arm 31 will be in a position to engage equally well with any of the pins. Rod 33 is connected by pin 45 to a sleeve 46 on the outside of arm 31. Sleeve 46 carries a cam follower 47 engaging with a slot 48 in cam 49. Slot 48 is composed of two semi-circumferential slots each of about one half a revolution in extent connected by short curved connecting portions. The cams are so mounted on shaft 25, being rigidly mounted on the shaft, that followers 47 will ride in one half of cam slots throughout a complete oscillation of arms 31, the oscillation of the arms being through less than a half revolution. By turning the cams to a diametrically opposite position, the followers are made to ride completely in the opposite portions of the cam grooves. Thus rods 33 are moved in and out and are kept at their inner or outer positions throughout the stroke of the arms, and the catch mechanisms on the end of the arms are kept tilted in either one direction or the other. Shaft 25 is turned from one position to the opposite position by means of a small crank handle 50 on one end of the shaft, the crank having a pin 51 which engages with depression 52 in a small detent 53 mounted on the frame, the crank, shaft and cams being thereby held in either position.

The mechanism about to be described has for its object the oscillation of arms 31 between two fixed positions. In the drawings the arms are shown in a middle position and carrying a frame from the vertical to the horizontal position. When the. frame reaches a position on top of the horizontal pile, it is automatically released from engagement with the catch mechanism in a manner to be hereinafter explained, and the arm is moved onwardly until it is in a position where the catch mechanism would engage with the pin 40 on the lowermost frame. The arm is then moved upwardly and the catch mechanisms slide over the pins, the arm moving back until the catch mechanisms engage with pins 40 on the first encountered vertical frame. The oscillating mechanism is capable of moving the arms to a position where the catch mechanisms would engage with the pins on the last vertical frame, but the frictional mounting of the arm allows the oscillating mecha nism to move 011 to the end of its stroke leaving the arms in a position with the clutch mechanisms still in engagement with the pins on the first encountered frames. When the oscillating mechanism begins its return stroke, the arms are immediately moved in the direction indicated by the arrow and the frame engaged by the catch mechanisms is moved to the horizontal pile. The arms move again to their limiting position at the other end of their stroke, the friction device coming into play again to allow the oscillating mechanism to complete its stroke by the amount represented by the distance between the first and last en countered pins on the vertical frames, or in common practice a little in excess of that amount-for in order to move the arms through their full oscillation, it is better to have the oscillating mechanism have a slight overstroke.

The oscillating mechanism is most clearly shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. A shaft 60 extends across the base and carries gears 61 which mesh with gears 28. Gear 61 on one side of the machine is driven from a gear 62, gear 62 being connected to a bevel gear 63 which meshes with bevel gears 64 loosely mounted on shaft 65. Shaft 65 is driven through gearing 66 from motor 67. Driving is accomplished alternately through one or the other of gears 64 by means of a clutch mechanism 68 slidably mounted on and keyed to shaft 65. When the clutch mechanism engages to one of the gears, gear 63 is driven in one direction, while in engagement with the other of gears 64, gear 63 is driven in the opposite direction. Clutch ment with the opposite gear 64. Slide 73 is operated from one position to the other by means of plns 75 mounted on gear 28 and engaging with a projection 76 on slide 73 at appropriate times in the revolution of gear 28. The pins are so placed that the gear will move through approximately a:

half revolution between successive reversals of direction of motion. A spring actuated stop 80 engages with a lug 81 on slide 73 and holds the slide in either of its positions into which it is forced by pins 75, the action I of springs 7a being otherwise to pull slide 73 to its middle position.

The means of oscillating the arms hav- We have shown the catch mechanisms in position to remove a frame from the vert1- cal position and place it in a horizontal,

position, moving the frames in the directions indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2 and 10. In Fig. 10 the pins on the right represent the pins of the upright frames and those on the left represent the pins of the;

horizontal frames, the View being compressed for simplicity of illustration.

engage its notch 90 with the first of pins encountered. The arm will be held in this position until it is oscillated back to the.

left. When curved surface 39, which is tilted up on that side, engages the first one of pins 40 on the left, the catch will be forced down and its notch forced out of engagement with the pin 40 of the frame which it is carrying. The frame will consequently be dropped against the other frame, being dropped onto the horizontal pile in this instance. As surface 39 is always pressed downwardly upon by pins 10, it will be seen that it cannot engage its notch with any of pins 40 in the horizontal pile as it moves back toward the vertical pile; but surface 39 on the side toward the vertical pile being thrown down, the notch of the catch can be engaged with the first pin of the vertical pile without interference by the second pin. When the catch mechanism is reversed in its position it will be seen that it cannot engage with the pins of the vertical pile but must engage with the first encountered pin of the horizontal pile, the effect being to move the frames from the horizontal to the vertical piles. In order that the catch mechanisms may drop the first frame which is moved to either pile, pins 100 and 101 are provided on uprights mg now been described, the action of thev catch mechanisms will be described in full. I

On the movement of the arm to the right in Fig. 10 it will be seen that catch 37 will 102 and on the base frame 20 to engage with the catch and force it to drop the first frame moved.

\Ve have shown a convenient construction for frames 22 in Figs. 3 and 1. Bars 105 form the sides and ends of the frames, these bars being inserted into sheet metal corner pieces 106 in such a manner that the edges of the frames are kept flush. Bars 105 are formed of this sheet metal in the cross sectional configuration shown in Fig. 4 and with a broad web 107 upon which carpets 108 are secured. A suitable means for securing the carpets to the frames may be employed, this means preferably comprising a series of catches 109 mounted on shafts 110 so that all the catches may be operated simultaneously by handle 111.

In case the motor breaks down and it is desired to operate the machine by hand, this may be done by attaching a crank handle to the squared end of shaft 65 or to any other convenient point on the machine. By rotating the crank, the carpets may be raised and lowered in the same manner as with the motor.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A display device, comprising a frame, a plurality of display frames independently mounted on the frame to oscillate thereon, a lug mounted on the side of each display frame, an oscillating arm mounted on theframe, means for oscillating the arm, catch means on the end of the arm and comprising a tiltable member, a catch member movably mounted on the tiltable member and having an outwardly curved edge with a central notch therein, yielding means for normally holding the catch member outwardly, and means for tiltingthe tiltable member from one side to the other on the oscillating arm.

2. A display device, comprising a frame, a plurality of display frames independently mounted on the frame to oscillate thereon, a lug mounted on the side of each display frame, an oscillating arm mounted on the frame, catch means on the end of the arm for engaging with the lugs on the display frames, and means for oscillating the arm, said means including a slip mechanism to allow the arm to be stopped in any intermediate position.

3. A display device, comprising a frame, a plurality of display frames independently mounted on the frame to oscillate thereon, a lug mounted on the side of each display frame, an oscillating arm mounted on the frame, catch means on the end of the arm adapted to engage with the lugs on the display frames, and means for oscillating the arm, said means including a friction slip mechanism.

4:. A display device, comprising a frame, a shaft supported by the frame, a plurality of display frames loosely mounted on the shaft to independently oscillate thereon, lugs mounted on opposite sides of each display frame and arranged at a common radial distance from the shaft, friction drums mounted one on each end of the shaft at the sides of the display frames, a band frictionally engaging with the drum and normally revolving therewith, an arm mounted on each of the bands and projecting to a point adjacent the lugs on the display frames, a catch mechanism mounted on the end of each arm and comprising a tiltable shaft, a frame carried by the tiltable shaft and having guides thereon, a catch slidably mounted on the guides and adapted to engage with the lugs on the display f -ames, rods extending along the arms and adapted to tilt the tiltable shafts by their longitudinal movement, cam means mounted on the shaft whereby the rods may be moved longitudinally, and means for oscillating the first mentioned shaft between fixed limits.

5. In a device of the class described, an oscillating arm, means for oscillating the arm, a catch mechanism mounted on the arm and comprising a tiltable member, a catch member movably mounted on the tiltable member and having an outwardly curving edge, yielding means for normally holding the catch member outwardly, and means for tilting thetiltable member, comprising a longitudinally movable member arranged along the oscillating arm, connecting means between the longitudinally movable member and the tiltable member, and cam means for moving the longitudinally movable member.

6. In a device of the class described, an

oscillating arm, means for oscillating the arm through approximately a half of a revolution, a catch mechanism mounted on the arm and comprising a tiltable member, a

catch member movably mounted on the tiltable member and having an outwardly curving edge, yielding means for normally holding the catch member outwardly, and means for tilting the tiltable member, comprising a longitudinally movable member arranged along the oscillating arm, connecting means between the longitudinally movable member and the tiltable member, a cam follower carried on one end of the movable member, and a cam arranged concentrically with the axis of oscillation of the oscillating arm, the cam having a cam surface comprised of two portions, each portion extending approximately through a half revolution.

7. A display device, comprising a frame, a plurality of display frames independently mounted on the frame to oscillate thereon, an oscillating arm mounted on the frame, means for engaging the arm with a display frame, and means for oscillating the arm, said oscillating means including a yielding means whereby the arm may be stopped in any position intermediate its extreme positions.

In witness that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto subscribed our names this 3rd day of November, 1910.

THOMAS C. DE LISLE. IVILLIAM T. PHILLIPS.

IVitnesses ELwoon H. BARKELEVV, JAs. H; BALLAGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

